A writer, lover, thinker, and midwestern, book-loving sexpot.

Tag Archives: self-publishing

I’m going to be spending a lot of time editing, rewriting, and honing my current novel. I’m going to pay for a good cover design. In short, I’ll be spending a lot of time editing and designing the best book that I can. Since I want exposure, I’ll be releasing it for free, which brings me to my question for any of you out there.

Is it too much for me to ask those who download my novel to give it a review or a recommendation on their blog? My vision is this: If someone downloads it, they give it a short review. It can be good or bad — as long as it’s honest. For those who don’t want to review it, but liked it, perhaps they could recommend it? That would be the only payment I need.

I don’t want to sound selfish, so please let me know if I’m coming off that way. It was just a thought I had, and to me it sounds like a good one.

Advertisements

Rate this:

This weekend I went out to coffee with this guy I know from work. He just started a few weeks ago and he’s pretty cute. I told him I’m a writer and that I plan to finish my novel soon and he said, “No way! That’s awesome. I’d love to read your work.”

He said, “Maybe you could read my stuff, too?”

“Sure,” I said. “What do you write?”

He tells me fiction. He says he writes literary realist fiction and that sort of intimidates me. But we get coffee (NOT at the shop we work at) and chat and he’s really cool. I told him I’m not ready for anything yet. I told him about my rocky break up with Tyler and how it’s hard for me to trust people.

Prior to our meeting we agreed to each bring a short story to exchange. So we’re reading each others’ work, sipping on our lattes every few paragraphs and as I’m reading I realize: this guy can fucking write. He’s way better than me. Of course, he’s a different style and writes in a different genre, but still. Suddenly I’m way more intimidated. I can’t focus on what I’m reading because I keep thinking about what he’s reading. All the mistakes I’ve made. And ohmygod what if he’s repulsed by it.

But I swallow my worries and keep reading. When we finish we both look at each other and I’m waiting for him to speak, but since I’m afraid of what he’ll say, I talk first and tell him, “Yours was so good. I’m a little embarrassed actually.”

I didn’t want to admit that, but I did and there it was and now I hoped he’d breeze over it. But he didn’t.

“Thanks, but why are you embarrassed? I loved yours, too.”

It took some talking, but after a while, he convinced me that he hadn’t judged me. Which was good. Then I asked him if he’s been published and he told me he hadn’t. I asked him about self-publishing and that’s where the story takes a turn. Basically, my new man-friend is not a fan of self-publishing, which has been my plan from pretty much the beginning. It sort of hurt at first, hearing his reasons, but he made some good points. Anyone can publish whatever they want and often time it’s bad — really bad — and anymore, he said, people are looking for an easy money maker like Fifty Shades of Gray.

It gave me a lot to think about, but in the end, I’ve decided to stick with self-publishing. It’s just the right fit for me, and I’m really going to work hard to create a stellar novel. Hopefully my new friend can help me with it.

One thing is certain, though. There’s only one thing sexier than a man who likes to read, and that’s a man who can write really fucking well. I hope our next date goes better and he can come over for some hot and heavy literary foreplay (as in reading, you perverts).

It’s after midnight and I’m drinking coffee because why not? I’m not a great sleeper and tend to spend my nights a few hours sleeping and a few hours wasting away on the internet. Oh and writing. I do that too, and in fact have been doing that much more often as of late. I’ve been working on a novella as a way to experiment and better understand my main characters in my upcoming novel.

It’s set in Miami. Swimmers at a beach start to go missing and no bodies are recovered. The authorities think it’s a series of drownings, but my protagonists, Tegan and Mika, know better. They try to discover the source of the crimes and what they find causes them to encounter a force they never have before. How do they defeat something that survives underwater?

So I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve never written a thriller/paranormal/romance story before, but it’s fun and forcing me to delve deeper into my creativity. I’m hoping to have it done by the end of March. I’ll have it edited and have a book cover designed in April, and hopefully by the end of that month or early May you’ll be able to download it from the Amazon bookstore. It will be offered for FREE! So tell your friends!

I’ve been reading a lot about Amanda Hocking lately. In case you don’t know her, you can read this article. She’s being heralded as a woman who may be a game changer in the publishing industry. She’s an inspiration to all writers, since she is living proof that one doesn’t have to go the traditional publishing route to make a living.

However, I do admit some hesitancy when approaching just how revolutionary she is. I fear that too many writers are going to try to adopt her model and sort of flood the indie market with sub-par books. This could be a raw deal for those writers who have worked hard at it there whole life, but still haven’t been lucky enough to break into the market. However, my theory is that, for those choosing the self-publishing and ebook route, the best will rise to the top while the rest will fade to the bottom. The hard part, I think, is finding readers willing enough to read a book from an author they’ve never heard of before.

As for me, my dream is to be published the traditional way, but I’m open to self-publishing. I’ve heard how hard it can be to find a literary agent and then to find a publisher willing to take a risk on a new writer. So there might be some merit to self-publishing one’s earlier work to sort of get a base audience. Perhaps I will try it. But don’t be mistaken. If I go the ebook/self-publishing route, I will spend a lot of time polishing my writing and my story. I’d even like to hire a freelance editor to check it over. No sense in putting out a book chalk full of easily fixable errors.